Over 27 million South Africans eligible to cast their votes

The Independent Electoral Commission says over 27.79 million voters – the highest since the dawn of democracy in South Africa – are eligible to cast their votes in the 2024 National and Provincial Elections.

Briefing the media in Pretoria on Monday, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the voters’ roll will be published by making it available at the Commission’s head office, each of the nine provincial offices of the Commission and at each municipal office of the Commission.

“The certification follows the finalisation of objections by the Commission on the provisional voters’ roll that was published for inspection on 26 February 2024. Certification signals confirmation of those citizens who are eligible to vote in the elections,” he said.

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Mamabolo said the electronic copies of the voters’ roll, which contain the redacted identity numbers of voters, in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information (POPI) Act will be provided to all political parties and independent candidates who have qualified to contest the elections.

“Since the voters’ roll was compiled for the first time ahead of the 1999 National and Provincial Elections, it has shown steady growth of over 35% and contains the highest number of registered voters, recording an increase of 9.6 million voters since the 1999 general elections.”

The provincial breakdown of the registered voters indicate that Gauteng remains the biggest voting block, followed by the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, respectively.

Mamabolo pointed out that the highlight of the certified roll is the increase in the rate of representation by persons in the age cohort 18 – 39 years. This age band, he noted, accounts for 42% (or 11. 7 million) voters on the voters’ roll.

Of the 27.79 million voters, 15 million are female, representing over 55% of the total.